The scene after turbulence on a flight from Singapore to London that left 12 people injured. CREDIT: Alan Cross

Debris and luggage were thrown around the aircraft and drinks were thrown so violently around the cabin they were left splattered on the ceiling.

Air turbulence is thought to cost around £100 million globally each year, and causes hundreds of injuries to passengers and crew.

Crashes due to turbulence are extremely rare, but there have been some instances, often with light aircraft.

However, in 1966 when a Boeing 707 crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan while flying from Tokyo to Hong Kong after hitting extreme turbulence, killing all 113 passengers and 11 crew on board.

The new turbulence detection project, which has been funded by the European Union, has adapted a technology known as Light Detection and Ranging, or LIDAR, which is often used to help map large areas of land.

The device fires a short-wave ultraviolet laser beam in the direction of flight and then measures the amount of light scattered back to the aircraft.

This provides information about the density of the air molecules ahead and the movement of the air. The system can then use this information to predict turbulence on the route.

It is being tested this month in a Cessna light aircraft in a series of flights around Amsterdam and through European airspace.